Technical Abstract:
Phylogenetic analysis of gene sequences has had a profound impact on understanding diversity and relationships among the yeasts, and the application of this information to development of a system of classification based on phylogeny has resulted in numerous changes of taxon names. Gene sequence analysis reduced the polyphyletic genus Pichia from nearly 100 species to 20 species. Pichia anomala was not a member of the Pichia clade (P. membranifaciens, type species) and the species was transferred to the newly described genus Wickerhamomyces (1). Because of morphological and physiological variation among strains, W. anomalus has 45 synonyms including the asexual name Candida pelliculosa and the two recently used names Pichia anomala and Hansenula anomala. Neighboring genera are Barnettozyma, Lindnera and Starmera. W. anomalus has a number of remarkable properties, including its use for biocontrol of food and feed spoilage. Several other species of Wickerhamomyces, such as W. ciferrii, W. lynferdii, W. sydowiorum, W. subpelliculosus and Candida silvicultrix, are closely related to W. anomalus, as shown from multigene sequence analysis, and it will be of interest to determine if these species have similar properties.
1. Kurtzman, C.P., C.J. Robnett and E. Basehoar-Powers. Relationships among species of Pichia, Issatchenkia and Williopsis determined from multigene phylogenetic analysis and the proposal of Barnettozyma gen. nov., Lindnera gen. nov. and Wickerhamomyces gen. nov. FEMS Yeast Res 2008. 8: p. 939-954.